CFP – Harry Potter and the Other: Race, Diversity, and Difference in the Wizarding Worlds

CALL FOR PAPERS

Harry Potter and the Other: Race, Diversity, and Difference in the Wizarding Worlds

Edited by Sarah Park Dahlen and Ebony Elizabeth Thomas

Scholars in various disciplines have discussed how race and difference are depicted in the Harry Potter series. Existing studies include the relationship between religion and Harry Potter, interracial relationships, J.K. Rowling’s social justice agenda, and how young people growing up in the Wizarding Age experience and interpret the series. However, there has yet to be an anthology that specifically interrogates representations of race and difference across all Harry Potter media. Given that Rowling continues to expand and reveal more details about the wizarding world, both at Hogwarts and elsewhere, some fans and scholars are conflicted and concerned about how the original Wizarding World – quintessentially White and British – manifests in other worlds, worlds with which Rowling may be less familiar.

We seek for possible inclusion critical essays about how race is depicted in Harry Potter in all of its manifestations – print texts, movies, fanworks, amusement parks, and so on. We wish to include essays from multiple perspectives (English, education, library science, media and communication studies, childhood studies, etc.) and from scholars around the globe. Essays may include topics such as:

• “Mudblood” and “pureblood” – racial analogies in the series
• How different media (print, movies, theatre, audio books, etc.) construct race
• Whiteness and normativity
• Resistance to bigotry and fascism
• Racebending
• Anti-Blackness, anti-Indigeneity, and Orientalism
• Relationshipping
• Trope of the monster
• Alterity; intersectionality; nationalism
• Fanworks (fanfiction, fanart, etc.) and fandom participation (cosplay, conference attendance, etc.)
• Reader response to race-related aspects of Harry Potter (also, viewer response, etc.)
• Merchandising and the commodification of the Wizarding World
• Presences and absences

350-500 word chapter proposals are due by December 1, 2016. Proposals should be for original essays that have not been published previously (including in conference proceedings) and that are not currently under consideration for another edited collection or journal. Send your proposal and CV to both Sarah Dahlen and Ebony Thomas.

Dr. Sarah Park Dahlen, Assistant Professor in the Master of Library and Information Science Program, St. Catherine University (spark@stkate.edu)

Dr. Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania (ebonyt@gse.upenn.edu)

CFP PDF: Harry Potter Race CFP

CFP Orphanhood, Foster Care and Adoption in Youth Media (ChLAQ)

Call for Papers

Orphanhood, Foster Care and Adoption in Youth Media:
A Special Issue of Children’s Literature Association Quarterly
Edited by Sarah Park Dahlen and Lies Wesseling

Deadline: November 1, 2014

This special issue of ChLAQ will focus on the different ways in which orphanhood, foster care, and adoption have been depicted in media for youth past and present. We also aim to take perspectives from birth countries and birth parents into account. We invite papers that both extend and disrupt existing adoption discourses, including but not limited to:

– the cultural construction of “adoptability”: constructions of children in need (deserving/undeserving children); of birth parents, foster parents and adoptive parents (deserving/undeserving parents)
– presence/absence of birth parents and birth countries in Western stories of adoption and fostering
– the genres of orphan narratives: the sentimental novel and beyond
– adultism and the hidden adult in orphan narratives
– the (ab)uses of children’s literature as a socialization tool in raising and educating adoptees
– representations of intercountry adoption in birth countries
– the politics of belonging; intersectional perspectives on race, class, nation, gender and sexuality in orphanhood, foster care and adoption
– the adoptees write back: adoptees’ perspectives on the cultural construction of orphanhood and adoptability
– the impact of narratives and visual art (action art, intervention art, etc.) on adoption laws, policies, and practices

Papers should conform to the usual style of ChLAQ and be between 5,000-7,000 words in length. Queries and completed essays should be sent to Sarah Park Dahlen and Lies Wesseling (chlaq.adopt@gmail.com) by November 1, 2014. The selected articles will appear in ChLAQ in 2015.

CFP: Sliding Doors in a Pluralistic Society

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Editors: Jamie Campbell Naidoo, Ph.D. and Sarah Park, Ph.D.

Tentative Title: Sliding Doors in a Pluralistic Society: Critical Approaches to and Intercultural Perspectives on Diversity in Contemporary Literature for Children and Young Adults

Publisher: ALA Editions

Youth deserve to encounter authentic and accurate representations of their cultures in books, libraries, and classrooms. Twenty-first century librarians and educators can be poised to meet the informational, recreational, and cultural needs of youth by providing high-quality children’s and young adult literature and literacy activities that reflect the culturally pluralistic society of the United States.

For our edited volume, we seek chapters that address the growing demands of school media specialists, public youth librarians, classroom teachers, and other educators for information on selecting materials and creating literacy and library programs to meet the needs of children and young adults in our culturally pluralistic society. We define diversity not only in terms of race and culture, but also in age, ability, religious preferences, family composition, and so on. By providing new critical and intercultural approaches to diversity in contemporary literature for children and young adults, this book will provide theoretical frameworks that consider the over-arching issues which continue to expand and break boundaries in youth literature. These approaches can assist librarians and other educators in choosing, evaluating, and selecting quality children’s and YA literature and using it to meet the literacy (informational, reading, cultural, etc.) needs of the increasingly diverse youth population in U.S libraries, classrooms, and homes. As well, the critical and intercultural approaches can help educators situate the books in their socio-political contexts in order to consider how the books may meet the social needs of youth. Finally, the title will provide ideas and examples of successful library and literacy programs that incorporate diverse children’s literature to meet the informational and recreational needs of all children and young adults.

We seek current and timely chapters on the following topics (each bullet represents a separate chapter):

• Literature review of studies from various disciplines related to the topics of cultural diversity, cultural pluralism, cultural literacy, diversity, etc. as presented in children’s and young adult literature.
• Understanding the politics and key concerns in selecting, analyzing, and using diverse literature for children and young adults.
• Creating a working conceptualization of diversity that can be used with children and young adults to foster intercultural understanding and prepare young minds for interacting in the culturally pluralistic society of the U.S.
• Critical Perspectives in Contemporary Children’s and Young Adult Literature Representing African American People and Cultures.
• Critical Perspectives in Contemporary Children’s and Young Adult Literature Representing Latino People and Cultures
• Critical Perspectives in Contemporary Children’s and Young Adult Literature Representing Asian American People and Cultures
• Critical Perspectives in Contemporary Children’s and Young Adult Literature Representing Indigenous People and Cultures
• Critical Perspectives in Contemporary Children’s and Young Adult Literature Representing Multiracial or Transnational Youth
• Critical Perspectives in Contemporary Children’s and Young Adult Literature Describing Characters with Cognitive Dis/Abilities
• Critical Perspectives in Contemporary Children’s and Young Adult Literature Describing Characters with Physical Dis/Abilities
• Critical Perspectives in Contemporary Children’s and Young Adult Literature Representing Religious Affiliations.
• Critical Perspectives in Contemporary Young Adult Literature Depicting Incarcerated Youth
• Critical Perspectives in Contemporary Children’s and Young Adult Literature Depicting Homelessness
• Critical Perspectives in Contemporary Children’s and Young Adult Literature Describing Transnational Adoptions
• Critical Perspectives in Contemporary Children’s Books Depicting Gender Variance and Queer Families and Characters

Other Guidelines: Each chapter must be under 4,000 words, inclusive of all bibliographies and notes. The author(s) should include information about selecting books representing the cultural group, descriptions of “good” and “bad” books, and programming ideas/ strategies that have been tested with children and young adults in classroom and library settings. Chapters should be formatted according the Chicago Manual of Style.

Deadlines: If you are interested in contributing to this edited work, please send a proposal (approximately 500 words) by November 1, 2010, which outlines how you would address the topics in one of the aforementioned chapters. Proposals should include your name, affiliation, email, and phone number along with a current 2-page CV highlighting relevant publications related to your chapter. We will notify selected authors of our decisions by November 15, 2010.  Completed chapters are due by May 30, 2011.

Please send proposals by November 1^st to slidingdoors9@gmail.com with “Chapter Proposal” in the subject heading.

Questions? Contact us at slidingdoors9@gmail.com.

CFP International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts

The 32nd Annual International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts

Theme: The Fantastic Ridiculous

Division of Children’s and Young Adult Literature and Art

Guest of Honor:  Connie Willis

Guest of Honor: Terry Bisson

Guest Scholar:  Andrea Hairston

Special Guest Emeritis:  Brian Aldiss

The 2011 ICFA welcomes paper proposals on all areas of the fantastic (including high fantasy, allegory, science fiction, horror, folk tales and other traditional literatures, magical realism, the supernatural, and the gothic) in all media (novels, short stories, drama, television, comic books, film, and others).

The Children’s and Young Adult Literature and Art division accepts critical scholarship papers that focus on literature aimed at younger readers. This includes picture books as well as middle-grade and young adult novels, short stories, and graphic novels that involve fantasy, horror, paranormal romance, science fiction, and any other aspect of the fantastic.  We embrace a wide variety of scholarly approaches and interests, including genre, historical, theoretical, and textual models.  We encourage work from institutionally-affiliated scholars, independent scholars, international scholars who work in languages other than English, and graduate students.

The conference will run March 16-20, 2011, in Orlando, Florida.

Please submit a proposal that includes a 250-word abstract and bibliography directly to the division head, Amie Rose Rotruck, at arotruck@gmail.com.  Abstracts should be turned in by October 31, 2010.

The conference encourages graduate student participation and gives an award for outstanding paper by a graduate student each year.

For more information on the conference or other divisions, please visit www.iafa.org.

Connecting Cultures & Celebrating Cuentos: National Latino Children’s Literature Conference

April 23rd – 24th, 2010
University of Alabama – Tuscaloosa, AL

Conference Description:
This April 23rd and 24th celebrate the rich traditions and diversity within the Latino cultures at the National Celebration of Latino Children’s Literature Conference. Discover how to meet the informational and literacy needs of Latino children via high quality, culturally-relevant literature and the latest educational strategies. Engage in unique networking opportunities with librarians, teachers, educators, and researchers from across the nation as we explore how to make intercultural connections and serve this rapidly growing, uniquely diverse population. Read more here.

Call for Proposals:
The Latino population has been rapidly growing in the United States for several years, with 1 in 6 (approximately 46.9 million) residents identifying as Latino. Population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that 1 of every 2 people added to the nation’s population is of Latino heritage and that 1 in 4 children under the age of 5 are Latino. At the same time, the U.S. has the 2nd largest population of “Latinos” in the world, surpassed only by Mexico whose population is 110 million.

Considering this tremendous growth in the Latino population, the need for information, resources, mentoring, and research on how to serve the informational, educational, and literacy needs of this richly, diverse population is critical now more than ever. It is imperative that schools and libraries reach out to Latino families in ways that are culturally and linguistically relevant. As preservice and practicing educators and librarians, we must strengthen our understanding of the Latino cultures and learn ways to create intercultural connections.

The Connecting Cultures & Celebrating Cuentos conference was created for the purpose of promoting high-quality children’s literature about the Latino cultures and to offer a forum for librarians, educators, researchers, and students to openly discuss strategies for meeting the informational, educational, and literacy needs of Latino children and their families. Featuring nationally-acclaimed Latino literacy scholars and award-winning Latin@ authors and illustrators of children’s books, this exclusive conference is truly an unforgettable experience.

Request for Proposals: In keeping with the idea of celebrating Latino children’s literature and creating intercultural connections, we invite poster and program proposals that contribute to and extend existing knowledge in the following areas: Latino children’s literature, bilingual education, Latino family involvement in the school curriculum, Latino cultural literacy, library services to Latino children and their families, literacy programs utilizing Latino children’s literature, educational needs of Latino children, educational opportunities and collaborations with El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day), Latino children’s responses to culturally-responsive literature, social influences of children’s media on Latino youth, Noche de Cuentos literacy programs in schools and libraries, and other related topics. Presentations and posters can share recent research or provide practical suggestions for current or preservice librarians and educators.

Program Proposals: To submit your program proposal, please provide the following information: a 250 word (maximum) abstract of your presentation along with the program title; the name of the program organizer; the names of all presenters and their affiliations along with their preferred contact phone, email, and address; and your preferred presentation day (Friday or Saturday) to conference chair Dr. Jamie Campbell Naidoo at celebratingcuentos@gmail.com. Please be sure to put “program proposal” in your subject heading.

Poster Proposals: To submit your poster proposal, please provide the following information: the title of your poster; a 200 word (maximum) abstract of your poster; the subject of your poster (choose Literature/Media Studies, Programs & Services in Libraries, Educational & Literacy Strategies, or Exemplary Programs); your name and affiliation; and your preferred contact phone, email, and address to conference chair Dr. Jamie Campbell Naidoo at celebratingcuentos@gmail.com. Please be sure to put “poster proposal” in your subject heading.

The deadline for proposal submissions is February 26th, 2010 with notification of acceptance by March 1st, 2010. Conference registration begins January 31, 2010.

Need more information on the conference? Contact Conference Chair Dr. Jamie Naidoo at jcnaidoo@slis.ua.edu or 205-348-4610.

Sponsored by: School of Library & Information Studies and the Office of the Provost and the Division of Academic Affairs at the
University of Alabama.

Click here for the conference website.